Cell Membrane News and Research

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New nanosponge safely removes dangerous toxins from bloodstream

Engineers at the University of California, San Diego have invented a "nanosponge" capable of safely removing a broad class of dangerous toxins from the bloodstream - including toxins produced by MRSA, E. coli, poisonous snakes and bees.

15 Apr 2013

Death of heart tissue could be prevented with new medicines, say TUSM scientists

A major factor in the advance of heart disease is the death of heart tissue, a process that a team of scientists at Temple University School of Medicine's Center for Translational Medicine think could be prevented with new medicines.

15 Apr 2013

RUB researchers develop new hypothesis on occurrence of Alzheimer's disease

A new hypothesis has been developed by researchers in Bochum on how Alzheimer's disease could occur. They analysed the interaction of the proteins FE65 and BLM that regulate cell division.

15 Apr 2013

Coenzyme Q10 offsets cellular changes that are linked to side-effect of some statin drugs: Study

A laboratory study has shown for the first time that coenzyme Q10 offsets the cellular changes that are linked to a side-effect of some statin drugs - an increased risk of adult-onset diabetes.

11 Apr 2013

Research: ACOT7 enzyme keeps neurons' fat levels under control

We're all fatheads. That is, our brain cells are packed with fat molecules, more of them than almost any other cell type. Still, if the brain cells' fat content gets too high, they'll be in trouble. In a recent study in mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins pinpointed an enzyme that keeps neurons' fat levels under control, and may be implicated in human neurological diseases.

9 Apr 2013

Gene behind Vel blood group discovered

Researchers have uncovered the gene at the root of a human blood group that has remained a mystery for the past 60 years. They showed that a genetic deletion on this gene is responsible for the lack of this blood group in some people.

8 Apr 2013

Researchers discover new molecular mechanism to prevent edema formation

Researchers of the Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine and the Leibniz Institute of Molecular Pharmacology in Berlin-Buch, Germany, have now detected a substance that can prevent the accumulation of fluid in body tissue and thus edema formation.

8 Apr 2013

Study offers new possibilities for developing potent antibacterial drugs

A new study which was performed jointly at Ume- University and the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, discovered that bacteria can degrade the cell membrane of bacterial competitors with enzymes that do not harm their own membrane.

5 Apr 2013

Study shows cholesterol rafts can shepherd genetic payloads into cancer cells

DNA, siRNA and miRNA can reprogram cancer cells - that is, if these nucleic acids could cross through the cell membrane. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published today in the journal Therapeutic Delivery shows that cholesterol "rafts" can shepherd genetic payloads into cancer cells.

3 Apr 2013

Texas Tech Professor receives NIH grant to research on leishmaniasis

A Texas Tech University biology professor received a five-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the biochemistry of a microscopic parasite responsible for the tropical disease leishmaniasis in the hope of finding a cure.

2 Apr 2013

Scientists say DHA-rich fish oil enhances B cell activity

Fish oil rich in DHA and EPA is widely believed to help prevent disease by reducing inflammation, but until now, scientists were not entirely sure about its immune enhancing effects. A new report appearing in the April 2013 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, helps provide clarity on this by showing that DHA-rich fish oil enhances B cell activity, a white blood cell, challenging the notion that fish oil is only immunosuppressive.

2 Apr 2013

Living cells and cell fragments move in response to electric fields, scientists find

Like tiny crawling compass needles, whole living cells and cell fragments orient and move in response to electric fields - but in opposite directions, scientists at the University of California, Davis, have found. Their results, published April 8 in the journal Current Biology, could ultimately lead to new ways to heal wounds and deliver stem cell therapies.

30 Mar 2013

Study: Hormone-therapy-related breast cancer cells can be attacked by cancer therapies

More than 100 women per day die from breast cancer in the United States. The odds of developing breast cancer increase for women taking hormone replacement therapy to avoid the effects of menopause.

28 Mar 2013

Scientists discover new mechanism that regulates replication of insulin-producing beta cells in pancreas

Bringing scientists a step closer to new treatments for diabetes, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and The Mount Sinai Medical Center have discovered a novel mechanism that regulates the replication of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.

27 Mar 2013

A new strategy to prevent herpes virus infections

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered a novel strategy for preventing infections due to the highly common herpes simplex viruses, the microbes responsible for causing genital herpes (herpes simplex virus 2) and cold sores (herpes simplex virus 1).

26 Mar 2013

Study shows why certain drugs that interact with serotonin receptors have harmful effects

A team including scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has determined and analyzed the high-resolution atomic structures of two kinds of human serotonin receptor.

25 Mar 2013

Researchers expand hematopoietic stem cells for bone marrow transplantation

More than 50,000 stem cell transplants are performed each year worldwide. A research team led by Weill Cornell Medical College investigators may have solved a major issue of expanding adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) outside the human body for clinical use in bone marrow transplantation -- a critical step towards producing a large supply of blood stem cells needed to restore a healthy blood system.

25 Mar 2013

MU researchers redefine key regulatory process in defective protein responsible for cystic fibrosis

A little more than a year after the FDA approved Kalydeco (Vx-770), the first drug of its kind to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis, University of Missouri researchers believe they have found exactly how this drug works and how to improve its effectiveness in the future.

22 Mar 2013

Researchers identifiy elusive anti-cancer property of vitamin E

Researchers have identified an elusive anti-cancer property of vitamin E that has long been presumed to exist, but difficult to find. Many animal studies have suggested that vitamin E could prevent cancer, but human clinical trials following up on those findings have not shown the same benefits.

16 Mar 2013

Targeting Mer receptors sensitize AML and ALL to chemotherapies

Two University of Colorado Cancer Center studies show that the protein receptor Mer is overexpressed in many leukemias, and that inhibition of this Mer receptor results in the death of leukemia cells - without affecting surrounding, healthy cells.

12 Mar 2013